UNC neuroscientist Eva S. Anton, PhD, professor of cell and molecular physiology, has been awarded $1.18 million over 4-years from an NIH program called EUREKA (Exceptional, Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration).

The grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is part of a NIH program that supports exceptionally innovative research projects and enables scientists to test novel concepts, tools and approaches that could have a broad impact on biomedical research.

Anton, a member of the Neuroscience Center at UNC, was awarded the grant for his research in the mapping of neuronal placement in the developing cerebral cortex. This project is aimed at defining the neuronal blueprint that forms the brain connectome, a comprehensive map of neural connections in the brain.

With the new grant, Anton said he will “also develop new in-vivo embryonic brain imaging methods that may help us better understand some of the brain developmental abnormalities underlying a spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders, including schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders.”